The Sand Island Campground
Near Bluff, Utah
The town of Bluff is in the extreme southeastern corner of Utah, situated on the San Juan River, across from which is the Navajo Indian reservation. The area surrounding the town is on BLM1 land.
There is a campground there, more developed than the usual BLM campground. This one even has potable water.
Pookie and I had a little ritual. OK, it was her ritual but as the human slave, I was required to accommodate it. Any time we pulled into a new campground, I was required to allow Her Highness to inspect the place. This was an immediate demand, before the engine was even shut off. If I didn’t comply, she would simply escape as soon as I opened a door to put leveling blocks under the RV.
So, having become accustomed to this, I merely complied. Here she is inspecting the camp spot while I was getting the motorhome level.
All while keeping a suspicious eye out for things that might eat her, of course.
She highly approved of this campground. Lots of hiding places.
There are sandstone bluffs on each side of the river.
and next to one of them, a weird boulder that looked like it had an animal’s head!
There are petroglyphs on that cliff behind, but I didn’t photograph any of them.
Driving back to camp after exploring, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that I couldn’t ignore: the brightest, deepest red I’d ever seen. It was a Claret Cup cactus growing some distance away. I went over and photographed it.
The human eye is capable of seeing deeper, richer colors than a camera, or a computer screen, can reproduce. This flower is an example. What you are seeing on your computer screen here is but a poor imitation of this blossom’s color in real life. It is unbelievably brilliant. I suppose that desert flowers have to be that way to attract pollinators.
I spent two weeks at this campground. There is a LOT to see in the neighborhood, which we shall explore in the next few posts.
The US Bureau of Land Management, which owns as much as fifty percent of some western states.